Submission Chapter 1
by Zenith
Summary: Final Draft of Submission, Chapter 1.


Submission  
By: Zenith  
Chapter 1: Contact  
  
  
  
  
Admiral Jacen Solo strode slowly down the command walkway of the Bothan Assult   
Cruiser Victory, his hard military boots clicking dully on the durasteel deck plates of   
the modern warship. His dark brown eyes, those of his father, shifted slightly as he   
sensed SOMETHING.. a disturbance in the Force. He frowned. "Captain?", he addressed a   
uniformed officer on the bridge.  
  
Captain Zen Krath of Kuat straightened at his station. "Sir?", he said, with the   
military precision his parents' generation had always associated with the Galactic Empire.  
  
Jacen closed his eyes, sensing out towards the stars, trying to find something,   
anything, life out among the stars that could be giving this unsettling feeling of danger   
through the Force. His eyes flickered open. "Instruct communications to scan the space on   
heading", his eyes closed again, and he paused, concentration furrowing his brow.   
"Thirteen, mark two five four, mark oh six eight".  
  
"Yes sir", Krath replied, as he turned his head to nod curtly towards a lieutenant  
at the communications console. "Do as he said".  
  
The lieutenant tapped the co-ordinates on the data terminal at his stations. Moments   
later, his eyes widened. "Sir, ComScan detects the energy signature of", he paused, eyes   
flickering over the terminal screen before proceeding. "Thirty-four warship, ranging in   
side from corvette to cruiser at..", he read off a string of numbers, close to Solo's   
estimation. "Range four-hundred and fifty thousand clicks and closing fast!"  
  
Jacen swore aloud before he couls stop himself, his suspicions confirmed. "Sithspawn!   
Captain, send a message to the remainder of the fleet! Instruct the Borleias to send a   
message to Admiral Ackbar at Coruscant detailing the attack, and then to join us at full   
speed with the rest of the fleet". He paused. "Lieutenant?", he addressed a young, nervous   
looking lieutenant whose features harbored obvious fear. "Battle-stations. Instruct all   
fighters to scramble. I want that flight deck clear in five minutes. "Uh.. um.. yes..",   
he stuttered. "Yes sir", he spat. Emberresment became evident on his face as he began   
calling into the comm.  
  
Solo frowned. "Lieutenant, are you in any condition to be on duty?" He stopped   
himself from asking if the lieutenant if he was okay, realizing that those words would   
imply they had the time to take care of him if he wasn't. From the size of the attacking   
fleet, if they used that much time he shuddered. Not something he wanted to think about.  
  
"Uh, no sir. I'm ready." Solo nodded in acknowledgment. A siren began to permeate   
the bridge in tandem with red lights from a thousand stations flashing the battle alert.  
  
"Commodore, the ship is at your command", Captain Krath gave the formal concession   
of command to Admiral Solo.  
  
"Thank you Captain." He spoke into a comlink in his right hand, "General Darklighter?"  
  
A burst of static crackled over the comm for a brief moment, the New Republic battle   
encrypts showing up in the connection for a second, before it could be decoded. It left a   
dull ringing in his ear. He shouldn't have held it so close to his ear. "Yes, Commodore?"  
  
He shook himself, peering intently at the display before him. "Form up. We have two   
wings, repeat, One hundred fourty-four starfighters incoming. Instruct Nova and Wraith   
squadrons to intercept all bombers. All other squadrons are released for superiority."  
  
A double click from the comm prompted him to smile. With an informal gesture   
offered in friendship such as that, he remembered exactly what he was fighting for.  
  
He buried the smile, and touched a starship's left flank on his display. "All   
weapons, fire for the left flank of that cruiser." Jacen frowned; their opponents, whoever   
they were, were leaving their sides open for a broadside. Jacen sighed and closed his   
eyes. This was going to be a long, hard battle. "Fire."  
  
  
  
Admiral Ackbar's bulbous eyes rotated until he was looking at both Admiral Traest   
Kre'fey of Bothwui, and Admiral Xakeri Pro'tak of Corellia. "Let me be frank and   
straightforward. Admiral Jacen Solo was attacked four standard hours ago outside the Bakura   
system. More than half the ships in his task command were destroyed by a task force of   
unknown origin. They made no attempt at communicating with him, but closed to weapons range   
and began firing at his ships. Though it is not known for sure, it has been estimated that   
there is a nintey-five percent chance that the ships originated in the Unknown Regions. They   
used weapons and technology, though not of greater caliber than ours, of a different style,   
and great enough to offer us a great challenge after our ongoing series of wars." The long   
series of wars from the Clone Wars to the war with the Yuuzhan Vong had indeed decimated   
the ability of any one military force in the galaxy to make war. The non-stop wars had also   
taken it's toll on the moral of the citizens, giving some of them nothing in their lives   
but war.  
  
"Admiral, we are in fear of a force of unknown numbers who seem to have weaponry   
less advanced than our own? Doesn't this seem rather weak?", Admiral Pro'tak said   
haltingly. "Should we not run a reconnisaince mission", he broke off as he realized that   
they did not know where their base of operations was. Admiral Ackbar rolled his large eyes,   
privately wondering how this man had ever been promoted the rank of Admiral. He frowned,   
in fact, he wasn't sure who had promoted him.  
  
"The Kuat, Bilbringi, Corellian, and Sluis Van shipyards are working at top   
efficency to build more Gunships, Corvettes, Star Destroyers, Cruisers, Frigates, and",   
Ackbar leaned in closer, giving a sense of secrecy. "A Super Star Destroyer." Ackbar leaned   
back again, reassuming the sense of command about him. Pro'tak was slightly pale, probably   
remembering the tales of the Executor, and Kre'fey was smiling ferally beneath the facial   
fur of the Bothan species.  
  
Kre'fey cleared his throat. "Do we have the remains of any of these invaders?"   
Ackbar frowned, a learned trait, the Mon Calamari did not communicate with facial gestures   
such as those, and shifted uncomfortably, uncharacteristic for a charismatic Admiral with  
years of experience. "We do."  
  
"Well? What is the readout on their bodies, what are any unique characteristics?"  
  
"They are of the Sith race, Admiral"  
  
Kre'fey appeared astonished, though he hid it well. The Sith race had supposedly   
become extinct after the attack on their planet by the Dark Lords. The Sith were a powerful   
species, and, through Dark Side magic, had been mutated into the fierce Massassi warrior   
race. A war with the original Sith race would unleash a terrible fate upon the galaxy.  
  
Pro'tak looked sick, and Ackbar shook his head slightly, surpressing a frown. Such   
a weak-minded Admiral.  
  
"Admiral Ackbar", Pro'tak's voice quavered with something, fear, probably. "Are you   
saying there is nothing we can do?"  
  
Ackbar laughed slightly, then snapped, "I said no such thing! I merely stated that   
they are a powerful species with fairly advanced technology whom we have little actual   
knowledge of, outside rumor." Pro'tak nodded, reluctantly.  
  
"That is all, Traest, Xakeri. Dismissed." At a wave from Ackbar's hand, the two   
younger admirals stood up from the table, and walked towards the door. Ackbar sagged in   
his chair and muttered, "Just when it seems as if we will have peace we are at war again."  



End file.
